This ought to help.

The senate just passed a "massive" tax relief bill.  The bill will save some 20 million taxpayers from suddenly getting hit by the alternative minimum tax.  

For those who don't know, the alternative minimum tax was a law created in 1969 to make sure the "wealthy" couldn't dodge income taxes through loopholes and deductions and such.  If a family makes x amount of money, they have to pay y amount of taxes.  When this law was passed, no provisions were made for inflation.  Now, the tax will more likely hit the upper-middle class, or the average income earner in New York City, rather than the ultra wealthy, unless it's fixed.  The patch that congress is willing to compromise on must be redone every year to keep the AMT from hitting those who cannot truly afford it.

Also part of the tax bill were tax breaks for small businesses and individuals that were set to expire, and provisions that will make mental health insurance equal to physical health insurance in the eyes of the law.  

The other item I ran across today that will probably boost our economy (by keeping oil prices at least stable, if not dropping them a bit) is that there isn't enough congressional support to keep the offshore oil drilling ban going.  

While the government keeps debating whose fault the whole economic mess is, including an FBI investigation of fraud in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and AIG, and what to do and not to do, the news about the tax break extension and offshore drilling ban lifting is probably the best thing the American citizen can hope for.  The tax breaks and energy solutions will do more to help the economy than anything else the government could do that might help, and far more than what the government wants to do.